Sutter Buttes: Maidu`s Spirit Mountain
Sutter Buttes are the remnants of volcanic activity. Before dams the Buttes was an island refuge for California Indians, settlers and wildlife. The Maidu Indians called them “Histum Yani”, “Middle Mountains of the Valley” or “Spirit Mountain. The Wintun tribe, who lived on the West side of the buttes, called the buttes “Onolai-Tol.” Both the Maidu and Wintun names translate roughly to “The Middle Mountains”.

Rising out of miles of farmland, these buttes are sometimes called the world's smallest mountain range.
As you drive across State Route 20 in California’s Central Valley, you’ll be able to spot an outcropping of domed peaks abruptly rising out of the plains. The Sutter Buttes lie 50 miles north of Sacramento.